Mudéjar
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Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the
late medieval period The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudejar art, which was much influenced by
Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...
, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for Christian patrons. Mudéjar was originally the term used for
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
or Muslims of
Al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
who remained in Iberia after the Christian ''
Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
'' but were not initially forcibly converted to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
or exiled. The word Mudéjar references several historical interpretations and cultural borrowings. It was a medieval Castilian borrowing of the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word ''Mudajjan'' , meaning "subjugated; tamed", referring to Muslims who submitted to the rule of Christian kings. The term likely originated as a taunt, as the word was usually applied to domesticated animals such as poultry. The term Mudéjar also can be translated from Arabic as "one permitted to remain", which refers to the Christians allowing Muslims to remain in Christian Iberia. Another term with the same meaning, ("people who stay on"), was used by Muslim writers, notably al-Wansharisi in his work ''Kitab al-Mi'yar''. Mudéjars in Iberia lived under a protected tributary status known as , which refer to . This protected status suggested subjugation at the hands of Christian rulers, as the word resembled meaning "tame animals". Their protected status was enforced by the or local charters which dictated Christians laws. Muslims of other regions outside of the Iberian Peninsula disapproved of the Mudéjar subjugated status and their willingness to live with non-Muslims. ''Mudéjar'' was used in contrast to both Muslims in Muslim-ruled areas (for example, Muslims of Granada before 1492) and
Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open ...
s, who were forcibly converted and may or may not have continued to secretly practice Islam. The
Treaty of Granada The Treaty of Granada, also known as the Capitulation of Granada or simply the Capitulations, was signed and ratified on November 25, 1491, between Boabdil, the sultan of Granada, and Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Castile, Leó ...
(1491) protected religious and cultural freedoms for Muslims in the imminent transition from the
Emirate of Granada ) , common_languages = Official language: Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino , capital = Granada , religion = Majority religion: Sunni IslamMinority religions: Ro ...
to a Province of Castile. After the fall of the last Islamic kingdom in the
Battle of Granada The Granada War ( es, Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1491 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It ...
in January 1492, the Mudéjars, unlike the Jews who were expelled that same year, kept a protected religious status, although there were Catholic efforts to convert them. However, over the next several years, their religious freedom deteriorated and they were increasingly persecuted. Islam was outlawed in Portugal by 1497, the Crown of Castile by 1502, and the Crown of Aragon by 1526, forcing the Mudéjars to convert or, in some cases, leave the country. Following the forced conversions, they faced suspicions that they were not truly converted but remained crypto-Muslims, and were known as
Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open ...
s. The Moriscos, too, were eventually expelled, in 1609–1614.


Mudéjar social status in Spain


Castile

The Muslim population in Castile originally immigrated from Toledo, Seville and other
Andalusi The Arabic '' nisbah'' (attributive title) Al-Andalusi denotes an origin from Al-Andalus. Al-Andalusi may refer to: * Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati * Ibn Hazm * Ibn Juzayy * Ibn 'Atiyya * Said Al-Andalusi Ṣāʿid al-Andalusī (); he was Abū al-Qāsi ...
territories. They were not original to the land in Castile. Muslim immigration into Castile was sponsored settlement by the
Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th cent ...
. It is hypothesized that the slow-growing Christian population demonstrated a need to bring more people into Castile. Primary documents written by Castilians in the 13th century indicate that Muslims were able to maintain some agency under Christian rule. The Mudéjars were able to maintain their religion, their laws, and had their own judges. The Mudéjars in Castile spoke the same
Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
s and dialects as their Christian neighbors.


Aragon and Catalonia

Like the Mudéjars in Castile, Aragonese and Catalan Mudéjars also spoke the Romance languages of their Christian counterparts. However, unlike the Mudéjars in Castile, there were Muslim villages in Aragon and, to a lesser extent, in south-western Catalonia which populated the land before the Christian reconquests, setting up a history of Muslim cultivation and population of the land. Besides the large Muslim populations in Granada and Valencia, the Aragonese Muslim peasants were the most well-established Muslim community in the region, while in Catalonia Muslim authoctonous presence was limited only to the Low
Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...
and Low Segre areas. Aragonese and Catalan Muslims were under the jurisdiction of the Christian Crown and were designated a special status. This status applied to the Mudéjar cultivators, the ''exarici'', and this status made them subservient to their Christian superiors because by law; they were required to cultivate the land of royal estates. However, this status was also beneficial as the law suggested that this land be passed down through Muslim family members. Despite their expulsion at the end of the Morisco period, the Mudéjars in Aragon left evidence of their style in
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, while in Catalonia only some reminiscences of this can be appreciated in some
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
churches and cathedrals in some shires of
Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...
. Lleida in Catalonia was, besides Tortosa, the only major Catalan town to have a Muslim quarter, at which its numerous Muslim population of Andalusi origins, was organized as a community (''Aljama'' or ''Al-Jama'ah''), even though there were also Muslims living outside the quarter. Its Muslim population descended from the population that did not leave ''Madinat Larida'' when it was taken over from the Moors by the counts of Urgell and Barcelona. The autochthonous Muslim community, largely composed of a mix of skilled artisans, laborers, and peasants, although progressively diminishing throughout the Middle Ages by emigration to the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon, to the nearby increasingly powerful and numerous Aljamas of Aitona and Serós, and to Islamic countries (''Al-Hijrah'') as well as by increasing conversions to Christianity, was nevertheless also being reinforced by immigration of Navarrese and Aragonese Muslims (Mudéjares) and by intermittent arrivals of Valencian, Granadan, and North African origin, these being mostly slaves or former slaves. The quarter and its ''Aljama'' or community enjoyed a special status within the social reality of the city, with its own elites: ''Alfaquins'', ''Cadís'' and ''Sabasales'' (''Al-Fuqaha'', ''Al-Qudat'' and ''Ashab As-Salat'', that is, Islamic scholars, Islamic Judges and Imams respectively); ''Escrivans'' (Scrives); ''Alamins'' (''Al-'Amin''), or officials that represented the ''Aljama'' before the king (in case of the royal Aljamas) or the feudal lords (in case of the rural manor Aljamas), etc. The Morería had its Mosque (''Al-Masjid''), its baths (''Al-Hammam''), its cemetery (''Al-Maqbara'', in the outskirts of the city), its Halal butchery, its market or ''Assoc'' (''As-Suq'') and its bakery. The ''Aljama'' suffered a period of decadence throughout the late Middle Ages, leading to its progressive reduction in numbers and privileges, up to the forced conversions of the late medieval period, and finally its total expulsion from the city during the early modern period.


Valencia

In the 13th century, the Aragonese Christians conquered Valencia. Unlike in Aragon and in Catalonia, the Mudéjar population in Valencia vastly outnumbered Christians in the area. In Valencia, the majority of communities were peasant, Arabic-speaking and Muslim. Although there was a disparity between Christians and Muslims, it is important to note that a Christian king ruled over Valencia, and not a sultan or an imam and this shaped the experience of Mudéjars in this region. An effect of Christian rule were the outbreaks of rioting against Mudéjars in Valencia. Mudéjar communities were frequently attacked by Christian rioters, despite being protected by the Crown. Violence against Mudéjars in Valencia was common.


See also

*
Mozarabs The Mozarabs ( es, mozárabes ; pt, moçárabes ; ca, mossàrabs ; from ar, مستعرب, musta‘rab, lit=Arabized) is a modern historical term for the Iberian Christians, including Christianized Iberian Jews, who lived under Muslim rule in A ...


References


Sources

* * {{Authority control Islam in Spain Moriscos